The older I become, the more I realize that drawing is the most important of all the problems of picture-making.
- Joaquin Sorolla

Art is, after all, only a trace — like a footprint which shows that one has walked bravely and in great happiness.
- Robert Henri

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Syd Mead Blade Runner concept art

Fans of the reality-bending fiction of Philip K. Dick, among whom I count myself, generally acknowledge the the best film made from his source material is Ridley Scott’s superb 1982 “future noir” thriller, Blade Runner.

One of the best features of that film was the art direction, cinematography and overall look and feel, much of which was due to designs by the brilliant visual futurist and concept artist, Syd Mead.

6 thoughts on “Syd Mead Blade Runner concept art”

The concept work for B.R. is awesome. If anyone is interested, if you get a recent DvD copy of Blade Runner there is a feature on the concept art/production of the film and to it is as compelling a watch as the movie itself. General cost of the DvD I bought is around 5$ US so even if you have an old copy, perhaps a VHS one :) it is worth the few dollars to pick up a copy with the bonus materials imo.

Many of the older movies on DvD like the original Conan the Barbarian have production featurettes included with all kinds of cool concept art. I have come out with some good stuff from a dive in the 5$ bin at a bigbox store I will not name!

Unfortunately, when I last searched, I found little in the way of resources for Mead’s work on the web. I should check around again, though, it’s been a while. I think some of the books are still available.